


Off With Their Heads

by Merfilly



Series: Slade Verse [5]
Category: DCU Animated
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dimension Travel, Mirror Universe, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 10:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the head of her Rejects, Black Canary is investigating who is the traitor among CHAMP. She doesn't realize one's already close to her...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Off With Their Heads

**Author's Note:**

> Originally begun in 2006 and heavily revised multiple times, this is unbackdated.
> 
> Characters from Timm-Verse JLU and Teen Titans GO! with comics used to fill in.

If there was one thing that Alexi hated worse than waiting, it was waiting on young people. He knew the next generation of heroes was coming into their own, filling out the ranks of those lost over the years, but it did not mean he had to like them. What made today even worse was the fact that the young people he was waiting on were the Rejects.

The Rejects, as the heroes working directly with CHAMP called them, were a pet project of Black Adam and Black Canary. While Alexi was glad both heroes had found a way to be proactive, he had his doubts on this team of former villains they were ‘reforming’.

The small team finally arrived, with the fliers carrying their landed counterparts. Alexi had to look away from the sight of Black Adam carrying Black Canary in her new costume. Ever since she had dispatched Joseph Wilson, she had worn a solid black costume, whose only gold was the canary pull at her neck and the gold ring sewn into the left glove.

Black Adam set his companion down as if she were made of delicate china, and then reviewed his team as they landed precisely. Kestrel and Spoiler both were dressed more demurely than Alexi remembered from their last encounter; he somehow thought it was Adam’s sense of propriety at work. Kestrel was carrying the silent young man called Connor Hawke. Black Canary had dubbed him Green Arrow and had personally removed him from the Triad he served. Spoiler’s burden was another young man they called Shift, who had caused quite a reign of destruction without even knowing who or what he was.

"You called us, Alexi." Black Canary’s tone was cool, a perfect match to her demeanor. Six months since she had violated her prime ethic, six months of keeping out of CHAMP business, and she had grown more like the man she had married. Even her stepdaughter had more warmth.

"Black Adam says your team is ready for operations, as a discreet arm of CHAMP," Alexi said.

"Not under your authority," Black Canary corrected. "We will take some assignments, on a case by case basis. Mostly, we will be working hand in hand with Searchers, Inc." Her eyes met Alexi’s, and he saw a hint of something in her blue eyes that stilled his biting remark. Instead, he held out a disk, placing it in her hand.

"A mission brief. Just tell me if you will take it, once you have looked it over." He turned to go in, pausing at the door on the roof. "Black Canary…you still have my trust. Don’t be so quick to deny me yours." He went inside, his jaw tight.

"To the air," Black Adam commanded, letting Canary wrap her arms around his neck. She was quiet as her protégés lifted and followed them.

"Just wanting to see if you had the leash on us?" Spoiler asked hotly.

"Or seeing if we jumped on command?" Shift ground out.

"Enough, young ones. We knew there would be times and trials like these." Black Adam led them to his Embassy here in America. "Black Canary will give us the mission after she reviews the data," he added as they set down. The small blonde nodded, before leaving them to go use the computer in Adam’s office. The mighty warrior of Shazam sent them all off to find quarters in the embassy before joining the vigilante turned mercenary. "A little rough on Alexi, back there?" he inquired, coming to sit on the desk as she was in his chair.

"We have no way of knowing who it is, Teth. Nor what they can observe there." She relaxed somewhat, now that it was strictly him with her. "We can’t afford to tip the spy off until we know who it is, what they want, and where they came from."

"True. It is just that you and Alexi were quite close for all those years." He watched her focus on the data on the computer screen.

"All the more reason for me to keep the cold air. The spy will focus on Slade being the threat to its identity, and I can view from the outside without suspicion." She smiled up at him with warmth in her eyes. "Alexi will understand when it all comes out in the wash."

"So you do not suspect him?" Black Adam appreciated it as she reached up, taking his hand. He recognized the cage she had put herself in, and was honored to be one of the few she felt free enough around to actually touch and be open with.

"I don’t. I can’t eliminate anyone but him and Slade at this point. And there is no guarantee the spy is actually one of the Council. But I feel it is, and so does Rose." She squeezed his hand. "Come on, Teth. Let’s go tell the kids we get to go remove a small terrorist cell from South America. It’s led by Beatriz DaCosta."

"Joyous news indeed. Do we even need them all for that?" Teth teased, helping her stand from his chair as he rose from the desk.

"Well, she does have Golden Futuro with her, and that means the Blue Scarab is probably lurking with them." Both senior heroes had a long, good laugh at the nature of their nemeses.

`~`~`~`~`

Slade was appreciative of the fact his daughter was home when he arrived, but not so fond of the idea that his wife was gone, again. He had seen precious little of her the past several weeks, as she and Black Adam tested their small team of reformed villains. He noted that his daughter’s partner was also in residence, and would have grumbled if he were a lesser man. The new house was still being worked on, and having Cheshire around was not always easy on Dinah’s nerves. It was not that Dinah held a grudge for Cheshire bringing Joey into their house. It had more to do with the ache that seeing Lian sometimes started in his wife. She was extremely good-natured toward Cheshire, in fact, supporting her daughter’s choice of partner even when Slade had voiced some concern.

As Slade left the small hangar, he saw Lance and Amoree trying to learn a new martial art move from Lian. That was one small benefit; Cheshire’s form of combat was different yet again from the ones he and Dinah practiced. He went and watched them for a few minutes, appreciating the total focus that they used in their training. Even Rose had commented that Lance would be superior to her in due time; he had the benefit of having both his parents serum enhanced.

At a small comment from Dinah, Slade had convinced Wintergreen to invest in a bow set for the younger of the two girls. The ex-MI5 man had been able to teach her the basics in no time, and her skill had soon surpassed the meager ability of her teacher. Dinah’s hunch that Lian would be as good a shot as her father had paid off, and the skill was not limited to the bow, even though all the adults were going slow with weapons training for their children.

He was just walking across the flagstones of the courtyard when he saw a black streak cross the air just above the house, going to the palace. Moving to Kahndaq had been good for the household, as it was one of the more crime free countries. He tracked the figure, pleased to see his wife seemed to be with his ally, just before her team of reforms streaked past behind them. If he were lucky, she would actually come home that night, and spend some time there.

"Father!" Rose called. "Mother’s going to be here soon, but she’s got severe burns," the young woman told him, holding the door open for him as he picked up his pace. "Teth is going to have his physicians treat her before he lets her leave the palace."

"I see." He was not pleased. She was on a team with three nearly invulnerable fighters, and yet she was severely injured. It did not set well with him at all.

"I asked. The terrorist cell they took on proved a bit craftier about dividing and conquering. No one came away unhurt, but Mother wound up in single battle out of sight with Beatriz DaCosta. They found her unconscious and came straight home." Rose walked with him to help prepare the room that Dinah had decorated for herself. She rarely used it, preferring to keep to her husband’s room when he was home, but it did do her good on the rare occasions she had been injured since they had moved. Sometimes a person needed personal space, even when they were crazy in love with their mate.

`~`~`~`~`

Teth himself brought the petite blonde home, carrying her rather than allowing her to walk as she was protesting she should. Slade kept his hands behind his back, standing militantly as they entered his home, while Lance and his two young friends watched solemnly.

"This way, Teth," Rose purred, rising from her seat in front of Cheshire to guide the man upstairs. Cheshire’s nose wrinkled at the smell of smoke, burns, and disinfectant mingled in their wake.

"Wilson, would you prefer I take the children with me, so she can recuperate in a quiet house?" Cheshire inquired. "I do not have a mission requiring me in the next few days."

"I believe that might be a very good idea." His eye had followed the progress up the stairs. "Lance!"

"Yes, Father. We already have clothing at Aunt Jade’s apartment." He came over and hugged his father, getting a firm squeeze on his shoulder in turn. "Lian, Amoree," Lance said, holding his arms out. Both girls came to him, with Amoree taking his left arm, and Lian just taking his right hand. The three children were a very tight knit group, a fact that showed in the way they mimicked the adults in their personal interactions.

Cheshire shepherded them out, with a smile at the too charming boy. She turned back at the door to look at Slade. "For what it is worth, she’ll be well quickly." It was the quietest way she knew of intruding on his worry over his wife.

"That goes without saying, Cheshire." He returned to his office to wait for Teth to come down.

`~`~`~`~`

Alexi read the report of the mission in Brazil, his eyes troubled. From the way Teth and Kestrel broke the mission down in their reports, it looked as if the terrorists had gone out of their way to corner Black Canary away from the team. Shift, Spoiler, and Connor had reported from a less team oriented, more personal perspective, but even there, the noticeable focus on pulling Canary away could be read in the margins.

"What are you looking over?" Zoom asked, coming in to sit at one of the workstations.

"A recap from the Rejects’ mission in Brazil. Black Canary sustained severe injuries. It appears as if she were targeted specifically." Alexi frowned as he weighed that in light of her cold distance from the rest of the hero community, and him specifically. "Two things come to mind. One, she is getting sloppy with her distraction by her personal ethics breach, or two, the Owl clan is active again."

"We had that report of Raptor’s escape and attempt to free Lady Owl," Zoom supplied. "We’ve increased the guard on her, as well as stepped up security on the Negative Zone Projector."

"And we never found Owlman Junior, either, after the battle with the Kryptonians." Alexi sat back in his chair. "Nor was Ultraboy recaptured after his escape. He did take it quite personally that the Wilsons attacked Owlman’s heir so viciously."

"Then it was likely a personal vendetta," Zoom decided. "She went home?"

"Yes. Black Adam called it in while he was having her treated for her burns." Alexi still did not feel entirely comfortable with this situation, as something just did not quite seem right. The terrorist cell he had sent them after were not usually known for their competence.

`~`~`~`~`

Teth had told Slade of the battle, and then gone to find Cheshire and the children to retrieve his daughter. When Rose had called out to him and Wintergreen that she was going out, and would not be home for a while, Slade had merely smiled. No doubt she would fly by the scene of the encounter, to pick up any leads she could to find Green Flame and tear into her. Only then did he stand, leaving his office to go upstairs and see his wife.

She was lying in the middle of the bed, light gauze over her eyes. Teth had said that the physicians had insisted on that precaution, as the heat of the flames had made them sensitive to light. There were non-stick gauze bandages over several small burns, and he thought she might be on the verge of falling asleep.

"Dinah?" He saw the way she tensed, and surmised that his initial impression must have been correct.

"Yes, Slade?" She kept her voice low. "I was almost asleep."

"I just wanted to check on you." He came and sat beside her on the bed, reaching out to stroke her hair. He frowned, noting her underlying scent seemed different.

"Just tired now. I’ll be up later, for dinner," she told him.

"Take your time, Dinah." He stood back up from the bed, leaving her after turning off the lights completely in the room.

`~`~`~`~`

Black Canary groaned as she felt consciousness returning. It took all she could muster to fully open her eyes, in response to a distant voice calling her name. The voice…it sounded very concerned, and familiar, but not recently heard by her. Another groan and she opened her eyes to see the manicured Van Dyke of Oliver Queen standing over her.

"Dinah? Canary?" The genuine puzzlement in his voice with the look of concern penetrated her hazy impressions of stumbling onto a major secret, and then being blasted by some form of ray weapon.

"Ollie?" she murmured, dreading his answer.

"Oh, Little Bird, what kind of mess are you and my Dinah in now?"

Oliver Queen helped Dinah sit up, and then moved back as she came fully to her feet, fighting an urge to vomit.

"This is not my world," she whispered. "Oh my god, I’m not in my world!" She could barely focus, her mind frayed at the edges from waking up and the residue of whatever they //who were they?// had hit her with.

"Easy, Pretty Bird," he murmured, staying back from her. His heart was hammering in his chest, seeing the very lean beauty in his living room where just a few minutes before his own Dinah Lance had been standing. When this one covered her mouth, he moved forward again, helping her into the kitchen and keeping her pony tail back as she lost her last two meals.

"I’ve got to get home, my son, my family," she mumbled, hanging on to the sink, as the world seemed to be trying to throw her down again. She could not see his reaction, but felt him stiffen at the mention of a child. "I’m sorry, Ollie. I am so confused right now. I was doing something there, something important, and then I got attacked." She struggled to remember.

"Look, Dinah, I think that it would be best if I got in touch with the League for you. I think I can get one of them on the horn still," he said, trying to shut down his mind’s rambling over the concept of her having a son.

"Yes, I think the League is my best bet for help too." She let him guide her to the table. Slowly, her body adjusted somewhat to the unnerving disorientation, and she started looking around the apartment. There were pictures of Ollie and Dinah as well as others that included one or both with Roy. Her heart gave a small thump; at least she could tell Roy about his daughter. "So, it seems that you guys had some luck with Black Kestrel?" When Ollie hung his head and scratched it, she held up a hand. "No, if this involves any kind of mind wiping, please don’t tell me."

"I didn’t have a hand in that. I got pulled in when she tried to pick up the pieces of your life," Ollie protested. "I’ve done good by her, and she seems happy with me." He sounded defensive, and Dinah knew he did not deserve her attitude.

"Sorry, Ollie." She laid her head down on her arms, watching him sideways. "Just never expected to find myself face to face with the consequences."

"Me either, Dinah." He picked up the phone. "When we knew you weren’t coming back, that it was real, my world went to hell. Then she showed up, acting just like you, and it helped. I let it happen, looking for a piece of having you back in my life." He sat down at the table. "I never stopped loving you, and I was able to give some of that to her."

"I’m…" She raised her head back up, looking down at her gloved hands. He noted the gold ring, worked into the leather of the gloves, just where a wedding band would be.

"Hey, you were right to follow your heart. If you had stayed…we wouldn't have lasted. You would have always been hoping for the man in your dreams to carry you away, and I would have grown bitter." He patted her hand as he took it. "We’ll get you home to your family there. You’ll see." He set her hand down then, and started punching numbers on the phone.

`~`~`~`~`

Rose set down in the burned out clearing, her every sense keyed to the environment. She started methodically sweeping the scene of battle, wanting to find something to make sense on how her mother could have been taken down while on mission with three superbeings like Black Adam, Spoiler, and Kestrel.

As she moved toward the small building, she realized she was not alone. Her swords came up, but then Kestrel stepped into view.

"Just me, Lady Deathstroke," she said softly, her eyes haunted. "I thought you might come back here."

"You aren’t supposed to leave Kahndaq unescorted," Rose pointed out coldly.

"I know, but I had to meet you without letting the others know," Kestrel protested. "I think something happened, something more than just them cutting Black Canary off from us." She had Rose’s complete attention.

"Elaborate."

"I think one of the Rejects assisted in cutting her off," the small superwoman told Rose. "But I have no idea which one, or why."

"Then we investigate until we find out," Rose said. "You understand I don’t trust you, right?"

"Perfectly so, Lady Deathstroke. But I am loyal to Black Canary," she defended. "She’s done far more for me than anyone ever has before."

"Her nature, not mine," Rose warned. "Let’s get busy." She started scanning the grounds again, as Kestrel focused her senses on the job at hand. A thorough sweep, and the only thing they pulled up was a communicator chip. Rose held it in her hand, after Kestrel gave it to her, and inspected the design. Her eyes narrowed as she pulled one she wore off and compared them.

"Identical," Kestrel said, scanning them on a microscopic level.

"Which makes for a very bad thing. Mother does not wear one anymore, so it is not hers. So, who was here wearing a CHAMP communicator that fell off?"

`~`~`~`~`

Arsenal and Nightwing showed up together at Ollie’s apartment. Arsenal came in through the front door, but Nightwing let himself in by the window, unseen. When Black Canary whirled on him, immediately moving into a combat position, he held both his hands out in a sheepish grin.

"Easy, Dinah; I figured you would not want the neighbors seeing me come in."

"That’s not the usual Dinah," Ollie said wryly. "But thanks anyway, roof crawler." He leaned on a counter as Dinah slowly relaxed, forcing her years of fighting Raptor aside.

"You told me to come and bring a League member," Arsenal said, studying Dinah intently. "But you should have warned me…"

"And miss seeing the reunion surprise?" Ollie retorted.

"Roy, it’s me…the original Canary from here." She stood tall, unafraid and hiding her emotional distress.

"Dinah?" He rushed to her, picking her up and spinning her around. "I can’t believe this!" His broad smile and the fact he was definitely all grown up now made her laugh, but the spinning threatened to set off her stomach again.

"Easy, Roy. Easy." She slid down as he let her go, smiling up at him. "I need help going home, but I have so much to tell you." She did not miss the slight jealousy that Ollie was projecting; at how easy it had been for her to greet Roy.

"We haven’t had a misplaced dimensional person in some time," Nightwing said. "But I’m sure we can figure it out," he promised her. "We have a T-Jet above. Ollie, coming with?" He looked at the older man, who shook his head.

"No, kid, still not too welcome in those circles." He turned to go into the kitchen, and Dinah had to debate following him or just going ahead and leaving.

Roy placed his hand on her arm, shaking his head. "Let him go, Dinah. He’s made a life for himself, but this has got to sting like hell." She sighed, but let him escort her on up to the roof to begin the search for her way home. As she rode in the jet, she concentrated on her last few hours before waking up at Ollie’s, trying to piece together the memories.

`~`~`~`~`

The primary leader of CHAMP looked up in vague annoyance as Lady Deathstroke entered without bothering to knock. She sat down in the client chair, put her feet up on his mahogany desk, and proceeded to clean her nails with a knife.

"Is that necessary?" he demanded. As soon as he had greeted her, she pushed something on the hilt of the knife, and he almost heard a sound emerging from it. She immediately took her feet down and nodded.

"Now they’ll see one of your usual bitch fests my direction, for my unscrupulous behavior and disrespectful attitude." She smiled at him, and he almost shivered; he had seen Rose in full mission mode only a handful of times, but it was disturbing to see. After all, it was almost as if she were a direct clone of her father.

"Why the elaborate ploy, Rose Wilson?" he asked her, with a long-suffering sigh.

"You have to take the Rejects in." She had a very serious tone to her voice. "In light of mother’s injuries, and Black Adam having a civil disturbance."

"He’s mentioned no such," Alexi said with a growling sound. Rose merely cocked her head to one side, and comprehension began to sink in. "What am I dealing with?" If Rose was stirring trouble to keep Teth occupied, to be certain if he had or had not been compromised, something serious was afoot.

"Mother could not tell you, but I’m calling the plan on this one now, since she was compromised." Rose leaned across the desk, sliding a communicator to him. "Found at her ambush. And she’s been digging at CHAMP’s edges for a few months now, as our intel says you have a spy."

"Impossible!" he denied, his voice growing heated.

"Mother found the pattern, not I," Rose defended. "She brought me in, to isolate Father from the investigation, as she wanted his unbiased eyes on your Council. But, as of her ambush, I cannot trust her. And that communicator is solid evidence one of yours was at the ambush."

"What does this have to do with the Rejects?" he asked, picking up the communicator, now wishing he had stamped them all for their owners. "Why send them to me?"

"Because I am about to go to ground, Black Adam may have been compromised on that mission as well, and I know at least one Reject is a traitor. I just don’t know who." She met his eyes with a gleam in her own. "Mother swore there were only two I could trust in CHAMP’s council. Father, and you." The bit of flattery had an effect. "She had to keep you distant, to keep your reactions on the level. I think you’re a keen enough actor to pull that off, and watch the Rejects. Let the traitors rat each other out."

"What excuse are you giving them?" he asked, accepting her plan.

"That their talents cannot be further used while Kahndaq is in civil unrest, so their charter reverts to your group." She stood up. "They’ll arrive this afternoon." She waited for his reply.

"Done. Once I am sure Circe is above reproach, do you wish her skills in determining if Canary is being affected by the enemy?" Alexi stood as well, walking to her side.

"Oh no, I plan to let Cheshire do that for me." Her eyes glittered. "Useful having an operative with truth serums." She let him take her arm at the elbow, then pushed the button on her knife. He opened the door right on cue, ‘throwing’ her out.

"Don’t play your games here, child!" he snapped, and she mocked him with laughter before saucily walking out of the headquarters.

`~`~`~`~`

Roy touched Dinah lightly on the shoulder as the T-Jet powered down. "Di, you fell asleep." He reached down to undo her harness for her, crouching in front of her. "You feel sick, don’t you? I remember how bad it was being in that world, and that’s your home now."

"It’s just a little. Think some of it is from whatever hit me, pushed me back here," she murmured. She laid a hand on his face. "You grew up handsome, Roy." He blushed at the compliment. "I have something to tell you, when we’re alone," she added, letting him help her stand up as Nightwing joined them. "So you’re League now?" she asked the former Boy Wonder.

"Liaison, between several teams," he corrected. "But the League has changed some."

"I figured. Its counterpart has changed repeatedly through the years." She walked between the men, letting them escort her to the briefing room. The fact that she had laced her arm in Roy’s was not lost on either younger man; Nightwing saw it as a relief to be with someone she trusted, whereas Roy could feel that she had to lean on him for support.

"J’onn actively leads the League, currently. Batman advises. Superman stepped back from active service after declaring he felt the heroes on tap were more than adequate. Diana is still here, and so is Flash. We got a new Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl left after John married Vixen." Nightwing smiled tightly. "Hawkgirl does come to Earth every now and then, but she feels space has more to offer her so long as John Stewart is content to be a house husband to a world famous model."

"I was so sure they’d have worked out a better life for themselves," she murmured. "But then, love and honor can make a person do strange things." She idly rubbed her left ring finger in its glove, feeling the solid ring beneath the embroidered one.

"Things worked out for you there?" Roy asked, leaning into her ear as they paused outside the briefing room.

"A long story, but yes." She stood free of his aid, straightening her singed costume as the door slid open. She walked in just ahead of her male escort, unconsciously projecting a confidence that was unshakeable.

She saw J’onn at the center of the table, Flash and Diana on either side of him. The four new members were seated two to a side from them. The new Green Lantern, a young man that appeared to be Roy’s age or so of Hispanic heritage was beside the Flash. At that side’s end sat Huntress, surprisingly, as she remembered the woman had been fired from the League in disgrace. At the other side of Wonder Woman, she saw Carter Hall, called Hawkman, and Stargirl, the lass with the cosmic belt and rod.

"Dinah…Wilson?" J’onn said, touching her surface thoughts lightly. "Black Canary, this is a very intriguing surprise."

"One I could wish was not upon us," she agreed, nodding to the ones she knew.

"Wilson?" Flash asked, before getting a look from J’onn. "OH!" The Martian must have communicated, because Flash blushed and shut up.

"You are not here of your free will," J’onn said. "Please, tell us your tale."

`~`~`~`~`

Neither Black Adam nor Slade were particularly amused when a civil riot actually did break out in a southern province early in the morning. Slade, in particular, was loath to leave Dinah at home, when she had failed to come down for dinner and pleaded severe fatigue when he asked her. Something was not adding up in his head, and it related to why Rose had peremptorily pulled the Rejects out of Kahndaq, after the initial reports of civil unrest began coming in. Still, he owed Black Adam his loyalty in this, going to see what had caused so many towns to break out in riots. Cheshire had all three children, leaving the recuperating Canary in Wintergreen’s able hands.

Wintergreen was just carrying a tray up to the room for the mistress of the house when she emerged, wearing a very casual outfit that he remembered Dinah had chosen strictly for comfort.

"Wintergreen?" The hesitating way she said it made him really look at her, noting the guarded way she held herself.

"Yes, Miss Dinah?"

"We need to talk. Things are not as they seem, and I refuse to be party to this," she said. "I’m just going to need your help to keep Slade from killing me." As she said it, Wintergreen realized he was hosting the woman responsible for the deaths of Slade's first wife and eldest child, the original Black Kestrel.

`~`~`~`~`

Alexi looked over the four former convicts with a judging eye. He really did not have to act much, to play his part; he had been suspicious of them since day one, not liking the concept of putting felons to work in the capacity that Dinah did. There was too great a chance that one would be a loose cannon.

The problem was in the eagerness that Kestrel displayed in learning their new duties. Whereas the other three did what was told to them, in silence or with biting comments, she had an urge to actually prove herself to him and the other heroes who ridiculed them. New York City was more than adequate to use as a training mission, though, as he took them out repeatedly to answer civil alarms, ranging from fires to gang violence. In the space of three days, he never saw one act in any manner that could be construed as villainous. The more he worked with them, the more he thought he could see Canary’s benign influence as having had a firm effect. However, Rose’s words echoed in his head. A traitor was among them, and the smart bet would be on Kestrel, as the daughter of one arch villain and with her too eager attitude on ingratiating herself in the workings of CHAMP’s day to day business.

That she appealed to him on a more human level only strengthened that opinion.

`~`~`~`~`

Roy sat down with Dinah as they took a break from the other heroes. They were waiting on the technical savvy of people like Mr. Terrific and Steel to try and get Canary home. J’onn had agreed to help her work through the memories leading up to her appearance in Ollie’s living room, once he had made all arrangements. Roy had taken her to the commissary, his treat, and seated her with a gallant flourish. She accepted with a smile and a small laugh, but he noticed now that her eyes were tinged with a sadness he would not have expected. The long years apart seemed to fade away the longer he was with her, helping him to catch the more subtle nuances of her personality.

"So, almost eight years," he began, once they were comfortable with their iced mochas. "Tell me how they’ve treated you, Dinah."

"Fairly well," she told him, honestly. "I’m hip deep in an intelligence gathering company, still called on by CHAMP for various reasons, and trying to reform four supervillains." She smiled as she sipped her mocha. "And that’s just the professional side of things."

"What, no flower shop?" he teased her.

"I had a greenhouse, but we’re in the midst of rebuilding elsewhere, so I haven’t had time to start over." At his puzzled look, she shook her head, and he could see the sadness that haunted her eyes related to the move. "You remember their Joseph Wilson? He pulled off a severe attack on my family a few months back. This after we had beaten back a small wave of Kryptonian enhanced criminals."

"You have all the fun, don’t you," Roy teased with macabre humor.

She sighed. "It happened so close to Slade waking up from his near death experience, and life has been a tumble ever since." He caught a hint that there was more, but she was staring into the distance. She caught herself, and shook it off. "Happier things. I got married about five months ago."

"Five months! Did it take that long for him to see what he had?" Roy was indignant for her sake. "I would’ve married you in five heartbeats if Ollie hadn’t been in the way." He smiled as she blushed prettily for him.

"The day we separated the worlds, Slade and I were attacked. Doctor Fries had to put him into a cryogenic coma, to save his life. He woke up six months ago." She sighed softly. "Woke up to me helping run his company with his daughter who called me mother, and a little blue eyed boy with one white streak," she recounted. She did smile then, something just slightly teasing coming into her eyes.

"What is that evil look in your eyes, Dinah?"

"So, when I was laying in that hospital bed almost eight years ago, you went and found a friend among their heroes, didn’t you?" she teased him, enjoying his discomfiture as he squirmed, suddenly nineteen all over again.

"Look, it was purely heat-of-the-moment, comfort kind of thing," he started, but she laid her hand on his.

"Roy, she remembers you every day, fondly, I believe." From a pocket built into her armored costume, she pulled free a snapshot that had been folded small. She carefully unfolded it to reveal a white haired young woman with three small children in front of her. Roy noted the resemblance of the boy to the young woman, and then caught his breath at seeing the redheaded Asian in the picture standing just to his right. "I only just met Lian six months ago. Rose did not know you were the father, or that it would matter so much to me."

"She’s beautiful," he whispered, his chest tight as he thought of the nights he had spent with the Asian infiltrator while Dinah was injured. "My daughter. God, Ollie will have a stroke." He fingered the photo briefly, and she pushed it to him.

"She’s just barely younger than my son. And since Joey’s last attack, she practically lives with us, especially when Rose sends Cheshire on mission. Lance, my son, is fast friends with her, though I think Amoree may come out in the end as his best friend." She tapped the dark little girl. "Black Adam’s daughter, though he lost her mother soon after she gave him the child."

"I can’t take your picture." He tried to push it back, but she would not let him.

"I have more. I want you to have this," she pressed. "Lian enjoys bedtime stories about the Awesome Arsenal." That got him to laugh, breaking his reverie about the existence of a daughter he would never get to meet.

`~`~`~`~`

Alexi called out orders to the Rejects, trying to bring their strengths to bear where needed as they struggled under a new onslaught. The day had begun with a report of terror at the harbor. Sinestro had suggested letting the Rejects handle it under supervision, and Alexi had agreed.

Right now, Connor Hawke had disappeared off his visuals, making Alexi somewhat angry at his inability to follow the team lead. Kestrel was pinned down by Major Mayhem, trying hard to break free and avoid his heavy fist. Spoiler, on the other hand, seemed to be handling herself well against Warrior, giving a little more punishment than she was taking. Shift had entangled the majority of the henchmen and was in the process of rendering them unconscious.

The senior member guiding them was relying heavily on his suit’s augmentations to keep from succumbing to either the heavy blows delivered by Big Barda or the controlled fire blasts from Green Flame. He swatted the annoying Portuguese woman down with a blast of energy, only to get caught in a crushing bear hug from the alien woman. His groan of effort as the suit protested was music to the psychotic New God, making her shriek with laughter. That laughter was cut short as a short circuit arrow hit her. The current arcing through her own armor allowed Alexi to break free, to see the silent archer on a nearby ledge, already acquiring a target in the form of Major Mayhem.

It took just a few minutes more, and unfortunately, both Green Flame and Major Mayhem got away. Capturing Warrior and Big Barda was a small consolation, as Alexi called a clean up crew in. He landed beside Kestrel, who was holding her arm, watching as Spoiler ruthlessly set it for her. He filed away the fact that they could be broken under the weaknesses category, watching as Spoiler walked off to get her two teammates. When he looked back, it was to see the young blonde was actually crying, silent tears falling down her averted face.

The silent tears on a face so like Canary’s affected him. He tried to shake it, but he found himself removing one gauntlet so he could reach out and brush them away with his thumb.

"Kestrel, there is no shame in tears," he rumbled. "But they are best saved for the privacy of base." His voice was neither patronizing nor rough for once, and she had to duck her face to hide fresh tears.

"Understood, Mister Luthor," she told him, rising into the air to follow her teammates back home. He watched them go, wondering what had possessed him even as he slipped his gauntlet back on. With a sigh and a promise to get his head on straight, he rose into the air.

`~`~`~`~`

The young woman was the best of her generation at espionage. She had cut her teeth on surveillance missions, following Wintergreen’s instructions on the best ways to go unseen. In the early days, shortly after she turned fourteen and Dinah decided that was old enough to go out, she had learned a lot simply by observing the Black Canary. Now, though, her skills exceeded the older woman’s, and possibly matched her father’s.

She knew she would need every single bit of that skill today, as she did the one thing she had been expressly forbidden to do. She had tracked several henchmen over the last six months, until she was positive she knew a primary meeting place for Owlboy. When she left Alexi, after telling him she would be going to ground, she had come here, and staked out her position to learn what she could. If her mother or father had known she was attempting to spy on an Owl in his own lair, they would have given her a grueling punishment detail. The Owls, they both argued, were far too dangerous for less than a full team.

Her curiosity piqued as she saw the person in question arrive and perch on the roof, looking down at the corrupted city. She kept her body perfectly still on the perch she had found, her breathing silent, and hoped that her heartbeat was muffled enough to evade detection by superhearing as Ultraboy showed up not ten seconds later. She would have to rely entirely on lip reading at this distance.

"Are they in place?" the small-framed Owl asked.

"Yeah. Connor says they have managed to get quite a bit of dirt and codes." The Kryptonian clone sat on the edge of the roof, kicking his feet aimlessly. "That blonde had to be dumped. Steph said she was getting suspicious, but Connor got squeamish about killing her."

"We knew putting them with the Wilson bimbo was a calculated risk. Connor will be punished for his soft heart." The smaller man moved to kneel just behind the clone, stroking his hair. "Did they recall Black Kestrel?"

"All according to plan. She absorbed the memories, and likeness, through the adaptation spell, and then we let her be found." Ultraboy leaned his head back, letting the hair stroking become neck caresses. "We’ll soon be able to do whatever we want, and retreat between the worlds as needed."

"Untraceable," Owlboy murmured. "I sent a message to Kestrel, the other day. I let Major Mayhem snap her arm. I think she’ll come back in line with the others now."

"Shift says he’ll take care of her if she doesn’t," Ultraboy said before moving back from the edge, taking Owlboy with him. "Fun time, now." He became insistent with Owlboy’s costume, and Rose had to still a shudder at how wrapped in each other they could be. And, with the Kryptonian’s senses, she was pretty much trapped until they left.

`~`~`~`~`

With the scientists and magic users working on finding a way to send her home, and J’onn unable to work with her memory problem right away, Dinah had grown bored. She was unaccustomed to being idle, and it began to show in her demeanor. Roy was the one to suggest a quick trip to Gotham, to an ice cream shop there that had been a favorite of hers. Dinah had readily agreed, and the outing was in place with a minimum of fuss, letting the redhead monopolize the blonde for a while. He just never expected he’d wake up with a pounding head on the floor of a devastated ice cream parlor, with no Canary in sight. He had to radio it in, and be the one to explain to Batman why they were there, and how five clowns in card suits had gassed the place.

`~`~`~`~`

When Slade walked in, he saw Dinah standing by the fireplace, and could tell, strictly by body language, all was not right. Then he saw Wintergreen actually looking like the slightly paternal friend rather than the faithful man-at-arms, and put his coldest mask into place, to steel against whatever trial lay ahead.

"Slade, listen to her; I already have, and feel she is being on the level," Wintergreen warned. He then handed the man a drink, and went back to his den.

"Who are you?" Slade demanded, loud enough to get Dinah’s attention, but in a very controlled manner. She turned, meeting his eyes with too much knowledge and a shade of fear. "Black Kestrel," he said, in answer to his own question.

"Yes, Deathstroke," she murmured. "And I swear I mean no harm, that I had nothing to do with this plot to remove your wife. They expected me to be a good team player, but I can’t. I want to go home, to my life in that other world." She kept her voice low, her eyes on his face the whole time. "I’d swear it on anything I hold holy."

"Not very much then." His voice was hard, his face giving nothing away.

"Please." She turned back to the fireplace, staring at the painting there. It was a newly commissioned work, of him in full military uniform, Dinah in her wedding gown, and their children on either side as they had been at the ceremony. "She makes you complete. And she is what my lover yearns for. But he treats me well, and lets me imagine I am his all." Her voice had just a trace of bitterness. "Maybe, having seen her again, he can finally lay that ghost to rest."

"Tell me all you know," he told her, the menace coldly present, as he felt no sympathy for her.

"Not much. They have some scheme to use both dimensions, to frame heroes and hide their tracks," she said. "They have tested it already, I think. There was a hero, Blue Beetle, convicted on fingerprints and DNA, but he’s not the type to go bad, in my world. They can breach the dimensions, and not necessarily send their counterpart over. They pulled me here just to try and get my cooperation on throwing you off the trail just a bit longer." She turned back to him. "They gave me her memories, her look, but I knew I could not fool you."

"Why not tell me right away then?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because I knew your first instinct would be to kill me." She shrugged her shoulders. "I’m not that stupid."

"Fair enough." He considered several factors, and then made a decision. "You will follow my plans, exactly. If you betray me…I make no promises for your continued health."

"I understand." She turned back to the portrait, haunted by the look of happiness in it.

`~`~`~`~`

There were few people who got in Slade Wilson’s way, regardless of if he were wearing the mask or not. So when the redhead purposely stepped into his path, he looked twice, and recognized an old thorn.

"Arsenal, is it not, these days?"

"Deathstroke." The hero was almost vibrating with the tight control he was keeping on himself. "Although, without the mask, shouldn’t we be more informal?"

"Very well, Harper." The voice dripped menace as he said the name.

"Wilson." For Roy, it was different. Roy knew Joey, knew what kind of angel the gentle blonde could be, with his love of art and music. He just had no idea how such a man could have come from the seed of a sociopath murderer and would-be dictator.

"Shall we continue this awkward greeting ritual, or get right to the part where I break you?" Slade asked the much younger man. Roy’s jaw clenched, but he refused to shift to a more aggressive stance.

"I need to hire you. The League nor the Titans know I’m doing this, but I need someone rescued, and you’re the only person I think can do it fast enough." Roy had to speak through clenched teeth as he said this.

"Color me intrigued, Former Boy Archer." His play on the nickname for his obsession’s desire did not ease Roy’s nerves a bit.

"Black Canary, the real one, was abducted twelve hours ago. We do not feel they intended to kill her, doing the standard gloat thing, I guess, but…" His color blanched slightly. "I can’t lose her, and I know where they took her." He met Slade’s even gaze with a very frustrated sense.

"Hmm. Who took her, and where? How much?" Roy was encouraged by the fact the asking price part had come after the where and whom.

"The Royal Flush Gang took her, from Gotham," Roy supplied. "They were hired by Harley Quinn for the Joker, who seems to have done it as some joke put to him by an unknown party."

"Present location, spy boy?" Slade’s chiding degradation of Roy’s chosen civilian occupation irritated him, but he kept Dinah firmly in his thoughts.

"Seems Joker took over the Slab. And he has her there." Arsenal was perfectly miserable over the situation, and Slade had to take a small bit of pleasure in seeing it.

"Pay?"

"Your standard fee for an assassination." Roy had to remind himself forcefully of the nature of his deal, that he was trying to hire a man known to have killed thousands.

"Oh come now, you wish me to extract a hero from a volatile situation for that paltry sum?" Slade inquired, his eye narrowing.

"Are you saying it is beyond your ability?" Roy snapped, too tired of minding his words with the dangerous man. Slade smirked at him with a small laugh.

"If it were any other person, I’d say no." He held his hand out to the younger man, who eyed it a long moment before shaking on the deal.

"Why for me?" he could not help but ask, getting a low, sadistic chuckle.

"Not you, boy." With that, Slade turned and walked off, leaving Roy to wonder just what it was about Dinah that attracted so many.

`~`~`~`~`

The sad thing of it was that Rose was in full sight of the headquarters for CHAMP when he revealed himself. She had done all she could to avoid being detected, but the traitor was somehow a step ahead of her. Then again, it was quite difficult to beat a speedster at thinking, when they were able to use their minds for more than figuring out how to slake their need to eat. And Professor Zoom was a highly intelligent man.

She managed to guard against the initial onslaught, forced to work solely with hand to hand. Her blades remained sheathed, as she had no time to pull them, intent on stretching her gift to the maximum to anticipate the blows he was capable of delivering. When he started talking, she thought she stood a chance; talking made him slow down, barely, to closer to the speed of her own reflexes. She knew from her father it was possible to beat a speedster, if you could just anticipate the right moment to move.

"I spared her, Little Rose," he told her, delivering another swipe at her head before kicking at her knee. "Because ultimately, she has the tragedy that is needed to be a good hero. I loved her pathos, watching your father over the years, bereft of her former life, and unable to have her lover." He was never where she aimed her blows, so she concentrated completely on deflecting his. "That is why I heeded the young archer to spare her. I respect your stepmother. But she needs more tragedy, and you, I have no love for at all. You are an arrogant whelp who had life handed to you on a platter." He landed three blows in quick succession, showing her that she was too slow, too over-matched when he truly wanted to hurt her. "Your death will distract your father, make him emotional and vulnerable. Easier for us to remove him from the chessboard. When Canary returns here, as I am sure she will, she will try harder, live up to her fullest potential as a hero, with two more tragedies to define her."

"My mother will mourn no one else!" Rose tumbled to one side, having stretched into her precognitive ability in an effort to break the fight pattern. She was disoriented for a moment, but Zoom’s expected blow did miss, and she was able to free one sword before he corrected. Now she fought within that eerie state she sometimes reached in her training, seeing the moves just before they happened, using the sword to parry and turn his fists away, dancing between even his hypersonic barrage. It could not last long, but surely someone at the headquarters would notice a meta fight on their own block, and soon.

Her head rang, as the gift failed her, and his solid punch came through her guard into her face. He followed up too fast for her to re-engage the gift, punching at her body, her arms, and her face in rapid precision. She felt the world crashing in around her, just as the speedster stumbled to one knee. As he keeled fully over and her world began to gray out, she thought she saw her lover coming, a tranquilizer gun in her hand.

`~`~`~`~`

Shift glanced to Spoiler, and they passed a brief nod to one another, before heading out of the monitoring room to go to Alexi’s office. As far as CHAMP was concerned, the world would be at peace today, as all their communications and satellite feeds were now on a special feed. Green Arrow had already left, to go tend to another part of their mission, leaving them to remove the second greatest threat to their leader’s plans for the world.

The elemental man turned gaseous, taking an odorless, colorless form to slip inside the office with Alexi. He wished he could have sneered, as he found their wayward teammate simpering up to the older hero, as he inspected the arm that had been broken. Shift was very glad that the simpler Kestrel had been left in the dark as far as details went, but could not believe she had forgotten Owlboy’s admonitions to be true to her heritage. She was intended to rule, not protect, and yet here she was, firmly in their camp.

When Spoiler kicked in the door, Shift immediately attacked Kestrel, shifting into an entangling mass of acidic elements. She screamed, even as Alexi shouted for assistance, because Spoiler had gone directly for him. The purple clad villainess clutched him by the throat, dangling him above his chair.

"A new age will start today, Alexi Luthor. My lord will lead us all into a world that is controlled through might and fear, where no one dares defy him," Spoiler growled.

"Not…on…my…watch!" the leader of CHAMP ground out as he flipped a small device toward Shift. As soon as it touched him, it flashed and the temperature of the room dropped. Kestrel flexed from within the flash frozen mass, shattering him into thousands of pieces. Spoiler whirled, placing Alexi between her and the enraged, injured woman.

"You won’t let him be hurt," Spoiler sneered. "You have a soft heart and a conscience."

Kestrel’s eyes flared red, just before the heat vision hit Spoiler’s mask, igniting it. The villainess screamed, dropping Luthor to bat at the flames.

"And you, psycho chic, have a severe problem with fire!" Kestrel was on her before she had recovered, delivering a solid blow to the jaw, and then a punch to the stomach. Spoiler was in agony, psychically induced, as her enveloping costume was a last remnant of the once powerful Martian telepath that Owlman had killed years prior, vulnerable to pyrophobia.

"KESTREL, MOVE!" Alexi shouted, having gotten a gun from his desk. The avenging angel did as told, well-trained by her mother’s counterpart to obey orders, and Alexi fired, putting a kryptonite bullet in a non-vital location. The injury was a minor one, but the element would hold Spoiler’s enhanced powers at bay until they could restrain her properly.

"I’m sorry, Mister Luthor; I knew they were plotting something, but I could not find out what in time," Kestrel said, meeting his gaze.

"It is time you started calling me Alexi, as all my friends do." He set about getting security in to take custody of the two villains.

`~`~`~`~`

Deathstroke reached CHAMP headquarters just as Alexi was alerting all police forces to be wary of any superheroes acting suspiciously. He had concocted a mind-control plot for them, which they accepted far more readily than they would have a dimensional invasion. He glanced up as Deathstroke and Black Kestrel entered, with the blonde prodding a restrained Zoom in front of her.

"Our traitor," Deathstroke said grimly. "And he’s about to tell you how to build a dimensional teleporter, so I can bring my wife back." Behind them came Cheshire, having stopped to drop Rose off in the infirmary.

"He attacked Rose," the green costumed warrior said, to corroborate the elder hero’s story.

"As I was just attacked by two of the Rejects." Alexi frowned. "The archer is still free."

"And the fourth?" Slade prompted. "Which two attacked you?

"It was Spoiler and Shift," came Kestrel’s voice as she entered the room, bandages on her exposed skin where she had changed into her old costume, as her newer one had been eaten away in places by Shift’s acid.

"Cheshire." Slade’s use of her name was enough; the gifted woman reached for her kit to test Kestrel’s truthfulness.

"I have already had her deep scanned by Hammond, and that was only after submitting him to a series of identity questions," Alexi said, holding a hand up. "I have chosen to trust her, Wilson."

"Very well, Kestrel." The one eyed man noted the Kryptonian enhanced woman was pointedly avoiding Black Kestrel’s gaze. That raised her another notch, in his view, as she rejected her mother, but it did reopen the question of who her father was. Had the original Black Kestrel taken DNA from Slade unaware, or was the younger woman somehow the child of either Grant or Joey?

"Zoom, you will answer for your crimes, in both worlds, once we have the two ladies switched," Alexi growled. "Hammond," he called as he opened a comm link. "You are needed."

`~`~`~`~`

Mr. Terrific was the one on duty when the teleport pad they had rigged for dimensional teleport became active. He had his T-spheres trained on it, as they had incorporated a design circuit to hopefully draw any teleports to this dimension to the pad, to control it. When they identified the world-renowned and feared Slade Wilson, he issued an alert through the station.

"Let’s clear this up now," the man said, arms held away from his body, non-threateningly. "Where is my wife, Black Canary?"

Mr. Terrific had to raise an eyebrow at that, but then he canceled the alert, two seconds after Flash had dashed inside the monitor womb. Slade stepped off the pad, and it activated again.

"That would be her doppelganger, returning here," Slade added.

"I’m afraid, Mr. Wilson, that there has been a slight mishap," Mr. Terrific said. "We have our best searching, but your wife was kidnapped."

"Dude, I would so not be the one to tell him," Flash said, before zipping to what he hoped was a safe distance. Black Kestrel fully materialized, and stepped behind Slade, using him as a shield against the dislike of Flash and the various others filtering in to see what the alert had been about.

"Batman," Black Kestrel murmured in his ear. "He’d be the most helpful to finding her."

"Put me in touch with Batman," Slade said, his tone brooking no argument.

`~`~`~`~`

Black Canary was in pain. She remembered the attack on the ice cream parlor, but that did not explain the sharp pain in her arm, or the rasping bruise of her throat. Her first conscious thought was of being restrained, the second had been the pain. With her arms up and behind her, wrists in manacles it felt like, she could not easily focus on the pain and see what was causing it. She tried hard to focus, and was oddly surprised to feel the buzz of a fever in her ears. Since Alexi had injected her with Slade’s serum, she had not been truly sick a day, except for the dimensional disorientation, something she noted was still present.

She scanned the room, as much as she could see from her awkward captivity, for her ankles were locked down too, and she was leaning forward, almost hanging by the wrist restraints. She was alone, though computers hummed all around her, blinking with lights and such. When she tried to pull her arms down, to see what slack there was and hopefully straighten up, she almost blacked out, from the sudden, intense pain in her right arm.

"I wanted to break them both," came a soft voice that she knew far too well. "Of course, I told them to kill you. They did not listen."

"Shade?"

"The one, and for the last three years, the only." He smiled as he came into view. "Surprised, my dear?" he asked, as she processed his comment. "I thought I pulled off my part quite well. Dumped the other one’s body here, enjoyed the fact I was considered dead, and filled in over there from time to time, gathering the information we would need."

"Why?" A dim, hazy memory tried to float to the surface of her mind, a detail from just before she had been dumped back here in this world.

"Is it not obvious, Black Canary? Think of what we can do, with a well coordinated effort to rid both worlds of certain heroes, by eliminating or discrediting them." At Dinah’s attempt to pull free, and her hiss of pain, he merely laughed. "I see you do. Well, you’re to go to the other world soon enough. It’s been decided that you will make a better candidate to get the secret of yours and Deathstroke’s powers from."

"Shade, you should have convinced them to kill me," she said evenly.

"I have no doubt of that, Black Canary. But your little conscience will protect me from lasting harm," he taunted, before leaving her alone, the door he used clicking shut audibly. The blonde decided she was not going to be a victim in this, and set about puzzling how to free herself without blacking out.

`~`~`~`~`

The meeting with Batman had been quick; the man was unable to break from Gotham to directly deal with the problem, but had learned that Black Canary was being held in The Slab, as part of a very large hostage situation. If Arkham Asylum had not also been in a full breakout, he would have been dealing with it, since it was the Joker responsible. However, one psychopath versus all the rest of his rogues’ gallery was a decision that held its own logic. The other bit of help he gave was to tell Slade what details of his costume needed altering, if he wanted to bluff on the strength of this world’s Deathstroke’s reputation. Sneaking into prisons was not exactly the occupation that Slade Wilson often found himself in. It was even more rare to know the prison was firmly under the control of the inmates as he did it. He had tossed the plan of just walking in and demanding to see the Joker; the killer clown was a touch too insane to trade on reputation alone. A good informant had given him Slab schematics, and he had spent his time so far scouting, trying to find where to plant distractions, and where his quarry was. A thorough search had turned up neither Joker nor Canary, though the guards were definitely dead or under the control of the prison populace.

Once he had that information, he staked out a likely informant, snatching him when he was alone. He proceeded to interrogate the prisoner in ruthless fashion, finding out that the Clown Prince of Crime had skipped out with some other people after staging the prison coup, and that they had an unconscious woman with them. They had escaped under cover of night, just as the first failed attempt to retake the prison had happened. Slade did not have a location when he finished, but he did have a direction. He made his way out of the prison unobserved by the authorities, and went to where the boat had left the island.

"Small, high speed boat, right?" The voice made Slade turn, not quite believing, to see himself standing there. "Probably going to rendezvous with another vehicle in open water, destination a non-extradition country." The other Slade had a few minor differences in the armored costume, the native one noted, but not enough that he would stand out as a different man.

"Come to rescue the little wife, yourself?" His hand twitched just slightly toward his holster.

"So that is what brings you here, and not just conveniently using the prison situation to escape custody." Under the mask, the foreign Deathstroke smiled tightly. "Should I ask why? As we get moving, that is, because finding my wife alive is of top priority with me." He was offering amnesty for cooperation, to forestall a fight that would do little more than delay finding Dinah. He knew that his wife had been afraid of this man, for all she had been brave about going to him for help all those years before. He also knew that they were probably equally matched in combat ability.

"I was hired, to extract Black Canary from her precarious situation." The villain followed his counterpart to a stealth craft, obviously designed for Batman. "Impressive."

"Indeed." Both Wilsons entered the craft, and the villain began briefing the other one.

"She was here, but was moved less than one hour before I arrived on scene. I came on scene fifteen hours after her abduction, and I’ve been here for nearly six."

"So they have had at least seven to pick a place to hideaway." That did not set well with the captive’s husband.

"Zandia. It is the only place that would harbor the Joker."

`~`~`~`~`

Black Canary thought she had worked her right hand against the manacle enough now. It had taken some doing to make her armored sleeve ride up enough to expose her skin. Every move had been a trial in pain management; she was sure the fever had something to do with her arm trying to set incorrectly. Now, she could feel the slickness of blood beginning to coat the manacle and her hand, and felt a grim satisfaction that she had paid attention to some of her father’s more macabre stories of escaping doom.

The manacle did not have quite enough give, even slicked, for her thumb to pull free. The effort she was putting on her arm was threatening to make her pass out, but she bit down on her lower lip, and exerted herself, popping the thumb out of place to pull free. Her whimper of pain was quiet, and she prayed that her vision cleared soon. Still, her arm was free, and now she had leverage to twist and look at the other manacle. Her throat felt bruised and raw, seriously impeding her sonic cry. Still, a person did what had to be done, and as she could not handle the manual dexterity to pick its lock, she would have to risk using her voice in the shape she was in.

The small Cry she managed was weak, hardly worth the effort, but she had directed it at the wall where the chain was tethered, and counted on the masonry being softer than the metal. Sure enough, the chain fell from all but one corner, and that put the effort fully into her physical capability. A solid pull after settling her weight, and she had both hands, plus a weapon in the form of the dangling chain and anchor plate.

Before she freed her feet, she had to set her thumb back, and pull her sleeve down over the seeping bloody cut. A glance at her arm showed the swell of a wrongly joined break; her advanced metabolism had caused the thing to begin to set as it lay, and was causing an infection to build. That would have to wait until she finished rescuing herself. The manacles around her feet were fairly easy for her to pick, and then she could look around the room of computers. Only a single door led out, and she was not technically literate enough to get the machines to tell her what they did, so the door became her main interest, as she picked the remaining manacle off her wrist.

She did not think she could affect it with her voice, and did not want to rely on that anyway. Since her attack against Joey, she had been reluctant to use it much. A check on the doorknob showed her it was locked, but she thought she might possibly be able to force it. She would just have to be ready to deal with anyone on the other side of it swiftly. With a solid kick, she broke the door at its knob, and followed through into the next room.

"It would seem, she is rescuing herself," one of the two Slades in front of her said. She wavered on her feet, seeing their swords out, both pointed in her direction as a reaction to her sudden entry. Four guards sprawled on the floor, dead or unconscious, and she could barely keep on her feet from the relief she felt at not having to fight. The only problem was that she could not truly make out the differences in their costumes with her vision blurring.

"I’m not much on being the damsel in distress anymore, fellas." The harsh scratchiness of her voice made her wince, but she kept a rigid defense up. "One of you has used me at least twice to further his own agenda, and the other has stalked me. What’s to keep me from kicking both of your butts, just to be safe?"

"One of us happens to be your husband?" the other Slade commented wryly. She merely smiled.

"Then he’d forgive me, wouldn’t he?" She wavered some, purposefully, but as she suspected, neither moved. It did let her look to their hands, and she smiled, moving directly to the one on the left. "I’m just not in the mood to do it today," she said with bravado, winking saucily at the one on the right as she stepped into the left one’s personal space. "I’m actually glad to see you, Wilson, in my own way."

"What detail?" the villainous one on the right asked, curiously, even as he checked the hall in preparation to them moving out.

"The imprint of his ring," she murmured, wavering again, this time without the playacting. That was too much for her Slade to ignore, and he reached out to catch her around the waist.

"You’re burning up," he said softly, pulling her into a protected spot by the wall. For answer, she showed him her arm, watching the mask furrow in anger. The villain turned his attention back in the room to see what was keeping them, and watched dispassionately as Slade set his sword in Canary’s lap to take the arm in both of his hands. "They must have broke it soon after they took you for it to be set so much."

"Just break it again, so we can slide it back," she told him, getting a grunt and a nod from her husband. Their other team member was actually impressed as his counterpart did just that, and Canary barely whimpered.

"Your knife, Wilson, the slim blade," the good Deathstroke said firmly. He received it, and used it with his own to rig a quick splint around the break. He had enough gauze to bind it and make a rough sling, so she could keep it closer to her body.

"Let’s go now," the villain said, once Canary was back on her feet. They filed out, moving between the guards that the pair had already dealt with on their way in.

"Did either of you see Shade on your way in? Richard Swift?" Canary’s mind remembered the details that had eluded her, causing her to gasp. "Ohmigawd," she murmured, pausing in their escape. "Zoom and Connor!"

"We already learned, Canary," her husband told her. "Alexi has the matter in hand. Your Kestrel was innocent, but the other three…" He shook his head. "No, we did not see Swift."

"Oh." That put her back in a quiet mood, and she moved further up, touching the villain’s sleeve.

"Yes, Dinah?" he asked neutrally.

"Thank you, again. For whatever reason."

"Simply business, again," he told her with a tilt of his head. "Harper."

"Ahh." She smiled at that, and he found himself briefly hating the man walking behind them. She fell back then, before freezing in place, at the sound of someone approaching. The two men slipped to either side, blending into the shadows of the hall they were in. She remained centered, taking an aggressive stance as the Joker, Harley Quinn, and her two hyenas came into sight.

"…that’s what happened, Mister J," Harley was just saying, before noting the blonde in their way. "Mister J, didn’t we leave her locked up?"

"Why yes, Harley, we did…seems she’s been a naughty girl who needs a lesson in hospitality," the criminal clown said with sarcastic glee.

"Not today, Joker; I’ve had all the hospitality I can stand of this world." Black Canary eyed the hyenas with wariness. Joker was ignoring them, but Harley followed their attention and let out an ‘eep’ just before both men made themselves known with brandished swords.

"Walk away, Joker," the villain Slade said, his one eye narrowed. "And I may let you keep all three of your pets."

"Hey!" Harley was outraged. "These are our kids!"

"Ooh, two clowns with worse fashion taste than the Bat, protecting their little bat orphan." Canary did something she had not in a while; she reacted from sheer anger and loosed a painful but powerful Cry, bowling them over and making the evil Slade’s head ring. The hyenas took off at a run, their leashes loose, as the lingering harmonics played havoc with their senses. "I’m no Bat Ward, Clown!"

"How do you stand her voice?" the villain Deathstroke asked his counterpart, good naturedly, even as both men moved in to subdue the clown prince and his consort. A bag of exploding marbles almost undid their footwork, but the good Slade settled for a well-thrown concussion grenade, knocking the Joker silly as it rattled him inside the door frame he had sought to escape through.

"Special ear pieces," he retorted, as he glanced back to see the woman in question massaging her throat.

"This is where we part ways, Little Bird," the villain said, moving to secure the Joker. "This one has a bounty I can’t pass up when you know who to offer to, and I think you won’t need more than one of us." He kept his tone professional, as he stripped Joker of his various gadgets and bound him. Black Canary came over and touched his arm; he had forgotten just how little she was until he stood up and looked down at her.

"Tell me how your Rose has fared, before you go."

"She’s done well. Tried her hand at your side of things, when she fell under Robin…Nightwing’s influence, but she remembered her place at my side." He inclined his head to her. "Now go home before you and I are at odds again, Little Bird. I have enough headaches without fending off your feisty mouth."

"Of course." She smiled at him and then moved on to her husband, who had watched for trouble while impassively listening to the banter. No matter what this Terminator’s reputation, he still had a sense of honor, and still could feel the pull of a beautifully talented woman like Canary.

`~`~`~`~`

Slade let Canary sleep all the way back to Gotham, after reassuring her that he had left Lance in Kahndaq, under Black Adam’s tutelage, and that Rose would be fine from her encounter with Zoom. He had added, at her questions, how Kestrel and Alexi were, as well as the fact that the original Black Kestrel had come clean as soon as she was sure her life was safe.

The stop in Gotham harbor had them meeting a petite redhead in a Bat Suit. Dinah’s instinctive stiffening could not be helped, as she saw her first nemesis from Slade’s world in her hero guise for the first time.

"Hi, I’m Batgirl," the redhead offered, sticking her hand out. "You’re Black Canary, so I suppose this is the good guy Slade Wilson?"

"Yes," Canary managed, shaking hands briefly. She was thankful for the hand that her husband placed on the small of her back to steady her.

"Let me get you two to the transporters. I’m sure you guys are eager to go home," she added. She was a far friendlier person than her mentor, Slade noted, but he also sympathized with the case of nerves she was giving his wife. After all, Lady Owl had indirectly been the cause of most of the chaos in her life.

"She also gave you to me," he murmured in her ear, knowing she would follow his thoughts perfectly. In the shared seat of the car Batgirl had brought, Dinah squeezed his hand tightly. She was so eager to be home, to have him hold her, to feel safe at last now that her whole investigation had come to an end. Slade reached up to remove his mask, before he drew her head to his shoulder. "Indulge me," he said at her surprise for this open display of affection. She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder as she took the mask in her hand, playing idly with it.

"I have a message for you," Batgirl said, glancing into the mirror and growing a little envious at the couple’s bond. "Oliver Queen is thankful to have his Dinah home, and she sends her own gratitude."

"Hmm." Slade was noncommittal as Dinah looked up into his face.

"You let her return?"

"For her help," he said, none too pleased.

"Thank you from me then, as Ollie needs someone." She closed her eyes, briefly.

"I think she was punished enough when Kestrel spurned her completely." He snorted. "Well, enough for the moment. Living with a man who does not truly love her is probably punishment in its own self."

"Maybe he’ll find a better place, now that he’s seen how much different I am from the girl he loved," she murmured. He merely leaned his cheek against her forehead, glad to hear no regret in her voice for choosing him.

`~`~`~`~`

The well wishing for Canary had been exuberant, and Slade realized that her ability to make friends transcended dimensions. She was hugged by most of the women, kissed on the cheek by a few of the men, and finally escorted back to him at the teleport by none other than Superman. So many people had come to see her off, that he had a sneaking suspicion that the long ride to the transporters had been so everyone could assemble and see her off properly. As she waited for the dimensional transport to fully warm up, Roy Harper approached, and handed her a gift.

"For Lian," he told her, before kissing her with a bear hug. He then reached out to Slade, shaking his hand. "Take care of her," he said gruffly, before going to Nightwing. The couple was transported away to their world, with Canary again supported by her husband’s hand on her back. They materialized in the headquarters for CHAMP, and met Alexi’s relieved, yet worried, look.

"What?" Canary asked, noting how close Kestrel sat to the older hero.

"News from Black Adam…. it’s your son," Alexi told them.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
